Another Walton County resident sues, alleging county officials violated free-speech rights

SANTA ROSA BEACH — Another Walton County resident has filed a lawsuit against Commissioner William McCormick and Interim County Attorney Clay Adkinson, alleging the two violated his First Amendment rights.

The lawsuit, filed March 8 by Dan Matacchiero, stems from a Walton County Board of County Commissioner meeting on Jan. 23 when the County Commissioners voted to fire County Administrator Quinn Robertson. The same meeting spawned an earlier lawsuit by Alan Osborne, also accusing McCormick and Adkinson of violating his First Amendment rights.

The suit alleges Matacchiero tried to speak during the public comment section of the meeting. It says McCormick recognized Matacchiero and allowed him to begin his comments, but interrupted Matacchiero and prevented him from speaking on matters of public concern.

The suit says McCormick stopped him from speaking and censored his speech because his comments contradicted McCormick's position on Robertson's firing. It also alleges that Adkinson instructed McCormick to stop Matacchiero from speaking.

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Matacchiero's legal filing cites Gentile v. State Bar of Nevada, a case from 1991 in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the "dissemination of information relating to alleged government misconduct" is "speech which has traditionally been recognized as lying at the core of the First Amendment."

The lawsuit argues that McCormick and Adkinson censored Matacchiero not because of time or a lack of respect between the two parties but because McCormick disagreed with him, and thus violated Matacchiero's First Amendment rights.

The suit also claims civil conspiracy between Adkinson and McCormick and argues that the two administrators "owed a duty to Matacchiero" to protect him from "unlawful government intrusion on speech." Matacchiero's court filing says the two "committed an overt act in furtherance of their conspiracy, including stopping Matacchiero from continuing his speech and having him removed from the podium."

According to current Walton County policy, no county official can comment on any pending or current legal proceedings against them or the county.

This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Second Walton County resident files lawsuit against county officials